Tembo: The Badass Elephant is nothing if not cute and ferocious. Despite the personality of a warrior and the coolness of a character that should have been born sometime in the mid-to-late 90s, The game is a throwback to a simpler, faster, yet fun time in the video game world. Built like a traditional platformer, Tembo features some fast-paced gameplay that would rival his pseudo Sega cousin Sonic. Tembo the elephant literally runs through levels at elephant speed (they are fast creatures, and one of the most deadly in Africa), knocking down bad guys and clearing the world of wretched overlords that have seem to left the game’s military baffled.
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The gameplay looks simple enough on the surface, but there is some complication below in both terms of level design and in control scheme. Both pieces make Tembo stand out from a lot of new platformers and gives Tembo some ‘oomph’ when it comes to playing.
In terms of level design, the first few levels have Tembo bursting through large structures (much like what you see in the trailer below) and just causing all sorts of destruction. From what I can tell from the beta on PC, the game’s levels were built for the elephant to just run-run-run through. That sort of thinking borrows from Sonic’s design where the player just wants to go as fast as possible without the fear of many obstacles standing in the way. Sure there will be some obstacles that can (and sometimes will) halt Tembo’s momentum, but for the most part the developers at Game Freak have made sure that Tembo’s progress is more fluid and fast as opposed to slow and steady. Again, this game feels a bit like Sonic of old, which is a great thing.
In terms of controls, so far the controls are a bit more complicated than what I was expecting and at times would have liked. You have options to jump, run, barrel, use Tembo’s tusk, trunk (spray water), smash things with a hammer and some charge up methods. The tutorial will run you through the gambit of controls, but the main problem right now that I see with Tembo is that the controls actually get in the way a bit. For example, the second mini-boss I fought on the second stage of the game had a vulnerable tank in the back that could/will explode after multiple hits. To get to that tank required some control mastery of sorts. If you run at the boss, you’ll go into a spin attack when you jump up. If you don’t run, you’ll be killed faster than sh*t through a goose. Eventually I did destroy the mini-boss, but the controls felt a little bit complicated for this style of gameplay. Anyway, I think a simplified scheme would have boded well for the giant beast, but what the game currently has is certainly manageable. Maybe after a few more days I will probably eat these words.
The design of the level does help to balance the control complication a bit. The levels are certainly flexible enough to allow for player mistakes. I appreciate that immensely about the design, which is one of the best parts of the game so far.
As for the enemies, there are just a few tiers of enemies to face in the first few levels. The tiers are what you would expect – regular enemies, special enemies, mini-bosses and bosses. The regular enemies are just show pieces meant to be launched in the air. The special enemies, like those with canons, are there to impede your progress, but nothing too bad. The mini-bosses, like the above mentioned robot, present some decent challenges, but aren’t too bad either. The bosses — well, we won’t get into those. Tembo: The Badass Elephant goes by the book when it comes to platformer enemies. It brings what you would expect and I’m anxious to see what the later stages offer up.
So what are the goals for this game? Destroy as much as you can. Acquire bananas and points. Save the town folks. Complete the stage. All items on this list are important, as they equal out to unlocking additional stages, which is how this game works. The more you gather during gameplay, the more progress you make in the game. Replaying stages is also an option, so if you don’t do well the first time, you can always break out the elephant and do it again. Simple fun with a pinch of mobile gaming goals.
On the presentation side of things, the visuals are a serious throwback to platformers before the world of 3D took ahold of everyone. You have various layers of graphics and animation that give this game personality. The foreground has our bandanna’d up warrior ready to kick butt in a war torn cityscape. The background is active, as is the sky, the buildings are broken and torn, and everything looks like it has been through hell. The amount of personality this game gives off is unbelievably high. It won’t take much for you to get into the game. When you get Tembo barreling through the buildings, there is so much visual destruction going on that your high-sensation needs will be met constantly and quickly. Things are crashing, buildings are collapsing and bad guys are getting tossed out of the way – there are so many moving parts going on that you can’t help enjoy the endless destruction. It’s a rush, folks.
The game, as it stands right now, runs smoothly. I’m not sure what the resolution/fps is at the moment, but the amount of things going on during gameplay and how the game handles it all so well is truly impressive to see. You won’t fall short in the presentation category for Tembo: The Badass Elephant, as it stands right now.
At the end of the day, Tembo gives me hope that platformers can still be made well and that they can survive in this day and age. I can’t wait to play the finalized version of the game, but until then just know that Tembo is barreling in the right direction.